Yahoo's Share of US Search Traffic Rises After Its Firefox Deal

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Yahoo's Share of US Search Traffic Rises After Its Firefox Deal

The Yahoo headquarters in Sunnyvale, California.

Kristoffer Tripplaar/AP

Things are looking up for Yahoo. At least a bit.

The venerable internet company has made some significant gains in the US internet search market, while Google has experienced its biggest drop in market share since 2009, according to analytics firm StatCounter. The changes come after a deal made back in November, when Mozilla's Firefox browser switched its default search engine from Google to Yahoo.

According to StatCounter, Google now has its smallest share of the US search market since at least 2008. Its share fell to 75.2 percent in December from 77.5 percent the previous month. Yahoo’s share, meanwhile, leapt from 7.4 percent to 10.4 percent, and its mobile search traffic saw similar growth, from 8 percent to 10 percent.

The gain is natural considering the widespread use of Firefox. In December, according to StatCounter, Firefox accounted for about 14 percent of US browsers.

Yahoo's standing in the industry has been shaky as of late. With ever-increasing competition from behemoths like Google and Facebook, an evolving online landscape, and a digital advertising business on the decline, the company is facing some big challenges. But it's not all bad news.